A growing partnership with Northeast Florida's only hospital for kids allows Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare to treat more pediatric emergencies.

The second floor of the Tallahassee Memorial Emergency Center — Northeast will house a pediatric ER. The satellite ER, which opened off Thomasville Road near I-10 in 2013, treats more than 10,000 pediatric patients annually.

Nearly three years ago, TMH and Wolfson Children's Hospital, an affiliate of Baptist Health, launched a partnership. They teamed up for the long-term goal of building a new pediatric facility for specialty care on TMH's campus. The first step was to create an outpatient specialty center targeting pediatric cardiology care at Tallahassee Primary Care Associates in Tallahassee, a medical group owned and operated by physicians.

The pediatric ER is the next step in the partnership and TMH's pursuit of being a regional provider for pediatric care. TMH's service area includes a 100-mile geographical radius with 250,000 residents under age 18 who could need pediatric care, said President and CEO Mark O'Bryant.

"As we start embracing our role as a stronger provider of pediatric specialty service, we felt our community would be better served by partnering with someone who already knows that role," said O'Bryant, who held a news conference to announce the move Monday. "We recognize we need to be a strong provider for our most vulnerable population, which are our children."

This partnership reduces the need for local families to travel hundreds of miles for care.

"Sometimes we’re at capacity," Wolfson Children's Hospital President Michael Aubin said, adding the neo-natal unit is often full. "We know that with training, experience and education we are confident that we can keep those children from having to come all the way to Jacksonville."

Over the next five years, Aubin said, both hospitals hope to bring additional pediatric care to TMH. Aubin said those services would include gastroenterology, cancer and blood disorders, pediatric surgery and some limited pediatric cardiovascular treatment for newborns with minor issues, such as closing small holes in the heart.

In the meantime, local doctors and support staff will deploy telemedicine, the use of telecommunication and information technology, to provide clinical health care from a distance. TMH doctors and nurses will get instant 24-7 access to Wolfson's pediatric doctors, who appear on a mounted, HIPPA-approved iPad station.

"By having the pediatric doctor at the bedside, you’re going to be able treat things immediately that need to be treated,” said Dr. Matt Rill, CEO of Emergency Resources Group and chief of emergency services at Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville.

Rill said telemedicine can be used to access and treat acute medical issues, from a strange rash to a rare congenital anomaly.

"It’s always comforting to have pediatric emergency in the room with you,” he said. “That’s comforting for the patient’s family as well as the caregivers.”

The expanded partnership also includes pediatric training for TMH nurses.

According to TMH, nurses working at the pediatric ER are required to undergo a Neonatal Resuscitation Program, neonatal education training to focus exclusively on the post-resuscitation and pre-transport stabilization care of sick infants and continued education with the Emergency Nursing Pediatric Course.

In addition, TMH said the two not-for-profit health care providers will host quarterly continuing education classes, seminars and workshops for local physicians, nurses and others to update them on advances in pediatric emergency care. As part of the partnership, pediatric critical care specialists on the Kids Kare Mobile ICU team and Wolfson Children’s pediatric trauma and emergency care providers will also offer additional training.

Contact TaMaryn Waters at tlwaters@tallahassee.com or follow @TaMarynWaters on Twitter.